Airbnb attacks the hotels: « I am the cause of the loveourism ». Federalberghi: « Without restraint »

The Overurism in the European Union would be « guided by hotels, which represented almost 80% of the overnight stays in the region in 2023 and 2024 ». This is the thesis that emerges from a new report developed by Airbnb, who on the basis of the emerged data has taken the opportunity to launch an appeal to the leaders of the different cities in order to « face The overwhelming impact of the hotels on the loveorourism in the ten cities more visited in the EU ». According to the online portal, « between 2021 and 2023 overnight stays in the ten most visited cities of the EU increased by over 200 million (an increase of 2.5 times), with hotels responsible for 75% of this growth ».

Not just hotels

A thesis also supported by the words of the vice -president of public policies, Theo Yedinsky, « Europe needs more homes, no more hotels, yet cities continue to build hotels, while the construction of houses is approaching the minimums of the last ten years ». The vision of the phenomenon of the loveourism, however, is overall and It is not limited to the only impact of the hotels. « Other realities too – we read – contribute significantly to the pressure exerted on the most popular tourist destinations. The number of daily hikers and passengers of cruise ships has grown significantly, fueling the perception of overcrowding. In Barcelona, ​​for example, the port recorded 3.59 million cruiseists in 2024, while in all of Catalonia there are 8.5 million daily hikers ».

Airlines

Furthermore, « from 2022 to 2023, cruise passengers have increased by over 50%in the city symbol such as Barcelona (+53%), Amsterdam (+63%) and Lisbon (+54%, historical maximum) ». To this dynamic – according to the online portal for tourist housing rentals – the role of the airlines is added, which have exceeded the pre-pandemic levels with a strong shooting of flights and the opening of new routes: « Ryanair passed the 200 million passengers for the first time in just one year, while in the first months of 2025 United Airlines and Delta increased connections from the United States to Europe by 23% and 13% respectively compared to 2019. Numbers that demonstrate how Overurism is the result of a combination of factors and must be faced with policies that take into account the entire tourist ecosystem ».

Federalberghi’s answer

« Without restraint »: the comment of Alessandro Nucara, general manager of Federalberghi is lapidary, « on the surreal statements contained in the press release released today by Airbnb to attribute to the official accommodation facilities the responsibility of the so -called Overurism ». « In Italy – underlines Nucara – today there are about 32 thousand hotels surveyed by Istat and over 600 thousand ads on Airbnb. The hotels were 34 thousand in 2008, at the dawn of the phenomenon of short rents, when about fifty Italian announcements were present on Airbnb. It means that, since the portal was born, the number of Italian hotels is decreased by 5.5%, while leasing accommodation increased in a hyperbolic way (+1,153,746%, a percentage almost impossible to pronounce) ». « The fairy tale is even more brazen – concludes the general manager of Federalberghi – according to which most of the overnight stays booked on Airbnb would have happened out of the cities. We invite Airbnb to reread the report drawn up in November 2024 by Nomisma, on behalf of the portal itself, in which it is affirmed verbatim that « in Italy, the data show that the phenomenon of short -term rentals is mainly concentrated in some areas with a strong tourist vocation, such as historic centers » « .